


Catharsis

by panchostokes (badwolfrun)



Series: Ficverse: Parker and Madison Stokes [11]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Original Character(s), This gave me some comfort in writing and I hope it gives y'all some too, warning for alcohol usage in ch. 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23992405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/panchostokes
Summary: Horomones are a terror to everyone, and Parker Stokes is no stranger to them.
Relationships: Nick Stokes & Original Female Character(s), Nick Stokes & Original Male Character(s), Nick Stokes/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Ficverse: Parker and Madison Stokes [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1385533
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AKA, a series of Nick comforting his friends and family as a sort of therapy for myself lol.

“Get outta here! GO!” 

Parker immediately regrets raising his voice as Sam the Second runs out of the room, tail between his hind legs. He grabs the top of his head, clutching his own hair and pulling, as if he could just pull the tension from his throbbing forehead.

He knows that in pulling his hair, he’s just adding to it.

“Whoa, where’s the fire, Park?”

Nick leans against the doorframe, arms folded, chin tilted as high as his eyebrows in concern.

“You never yell at him,” Nick observes. “What’s wrong?”

Parker feels his eyes water and balls his fist,  _ dammit, don’t cry.  _

“I just...I feel so  _ on edge.  _ A-and it’s stupid, one minute I’m fine, and then the next I just want to...scream. And I-I’m just...I’m just so  _ tired… _ ”

Nick cautiously enters his teenager’s room, shifting uncomfortably as he watches the young boy stiffen and avoid eye contact. He remembers how he used to feel when his own parents would do this, intruding on his personal space without consent,  _ far too close  _ for comfort, even if that’s what Nick fully intends to give in this moment. 

And he most certainly wants to give him just that, absolute  _ comfort,  _ because standing so close, he can see the dried tear streaks on Parker’s face. 

“I feel so bad yellin’ at him, I know he did nothin’ wrong…” Parker sniffles.

“I know. I know, you don’t mean it. And hey, he probably already forgot about it.”

“I just don’t wanna go downstairs right now.”

“It’s okay. Maddy’ll take him out.”

“And I don’t want to feel this way.”

“You won’t feel this way forever.”

“But just... _ why,  _ Dad? Why can’t-can’t I stop…” Parker’s face contorts as a hiccup shakes his body. Nick wastes no time at all, immediately wrapping his son up in his arms, cradling his head against his chest. 

“It’s okay, just let it out.”

“It’s so stupid! I’m so stupid!” 

“It’s not, you’re not. It’ll be okay. You’ve been through  _ so much,  _ Park. Far too much for your own good. It’s okay to have a bad day.”

“You...you don’t have bad days.”

Nick laughs as he continues to rock the embrace in a gentle sway. 

“Oh me? Trust me, I’ve had plenty. I’ve done worse than just yell at the family dog, too. Kicked over garbage cans, had my fair share of shouting matches...I even pinned a kid who was...oof, about your age? Against a wall. Poor guy damn near pissed himself.”

He hears a muffled chuckle from the head that’s buried into his chest. 

“And at your age, and especially...given what you’ve been through, it’s  _ normal  _ to feel this way. The fact that you’re feeling  _ something  _ at all is a good sign, trust me.” 

“I wouldn’t call  _ this  _ good at all. I thought girls were the only ones to get mood swings.”

Another laugh, this time shared between the father and son. 

“Don’t let Maddy hear you say that, she’ll tear you a new one.”

Parker slowly peels himself away from his father, his hands gripping Nick’s forearms as he examines the tear-stain he left on his father’s hoodie. 

“It’s okay. It’s my crying hoodie,” Nick tells him, brushing the hair out of his son’s eyes before he puts a hand to his cheek. Parker nods with the hint of a smile, ducking his head from view.

“Hey. Look at me,” Nick says in the softest, lowest voice he can muster. Parker looks up with shining eyes, though the sight of his father’s empathy radiating around him like an angel’s aura starts up the waterworks again. Nick cups his other hand on the other side of Parker’s face, wiping the streaks of tears away with his thumbs. 

“Everything is going to be okay.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madison's turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (young adult Madison, that is. warning for alcohol.)

_ “Hold me closa’ tiny dancerrrrrrrrrr!”  _

Madison sways in her desk chair, slumping down so far that she’s about to fall onto the floor. She  _ really  _ likes this song, so she turns it up louder, knowing full well that her father is in the other room and would likely not appreciate the loud volume.

Her assumption is correct, as moments later, a disgruntled Nick Stokes knocks on the door before swinging the door with such swift force it almost knocks into the wall. 

“Maddy, please, I’m trying to--”

_ “Tiny Daddy in my hand…”  _ Madison giggles along to the song, pretending to hold her father up in the skewed perspective as he hovers in the doorway. Her father isn’t half as amused.

“Oh, c’mon, Dad, I’m just having  _ fun!”  _ Madison sneers. She shimmies up in her chair, reaching for the bottle of booze that she mixes into her concoction of pop and alcohol. 

“How much of that have you drank?”

“Tonight?” she screws up her face, feigning thought. “Not enough.” 

“Honey, I don’t think that’s a good idea--”

“Of course not!” Madison groans, nearly knocking over the bottle as she waves her hands. “Then again, I don’t have  _ any  _ good ideas, do I? Never about what  _ I  _ want. Always what  _ you  _ want to do, what  _ you  _ want to eat, what  _ you  _ want to drink...”

“Maddy, that’s not true, and you know it’s not good to--”

“Don’t ‘Maddy’ me! God, why do you have to ruin everything? I was in such a good mood!”

“Oh, well,  _ excuse me,  _ then. Listen, I let you drink at home for this very reason, so that you don’t go saying something to the wrong person--”

“Whatever, I’m going to bed anyway.”

Madison gets up, losing her balance as she stumbles towards her door, pushing it so that Nick is shoved out of the room. 

“Just don’t drink yourself too deep, you ain’t that good at swimming.” 

“I can take care of myself!” Madison shouts, and shuts the door. She spins, a little too fast, towards her bed, which she thinks will make the nausea dissipate. 

Or another drink. 

She finishes the cup she had and turns the music down--maybe her father was right, it is quite loud--and oh, her father. She loves him, so much. Her eyes screw tight, her chin wobbles as she falls onto her bed, which doesn’t give her as much comfort as she thought. She’s so  _ hot,  _ her skin is sweating, she feels like she’s burning up a fever but at the same time, needs the blanket on her to sleep. Sleep. Maybe she can just sleep this off...

Hours later, Madison wakes up with what can only be best described as a hangover after a restless sleep filled with dreams of her shrunken father trapped in an empty bottle floating in a sea that she couldn’t swim to. 

A dream that was not too far off for the first thing she sees when she reaches a woken state of consciousness, a trick of perception, her father appears to be floating in the glass of water that’s on her nightstand, next to two pills which she presumes to be Ibuprofen. He’s holding a plate of what she can smell is fast food, but laid out on the plate in such a display that it seems like a home cooked meal.

“Hey, sunshine,” his voice is as soft and quiet as the still room. “Here, why don’t you take those, you’ll feel better.”

“Ugh…” Madison moans, but her hand flops to the table, and with much effort, she manages to swallow the pills and a large gulp of water with it. Nick waves a french fry in front of her face, but she shakes her head and purses her lips.

He already had a bucket ready next to her bed before she could even think about getting up to go to the bathroom. 

He pushes her hair out of her face as she leans over the bed.

“I’m...I’m sorry…” she hiccups, as she realizes her aim wasn’t entirely on target. Her ears burn in embarrassment, knowing that she doesn’t have this same trouble at the shooting range.

“I know, sweetie, it’s okay, it’s laundry day, don’t worry.”

“This is why I don’t have friends…” she retches as she wafts a tissue across her lips.

Nick laughs, which only serves to make her ears burn more.

“Mads, c’mon, you have plenty of friends! Besides, you got me, and Parker--”

“Parker hates me.”

“He does not, that’s just silly. And what about your school friends?”

“They’ve all moved on. Going off to get their masters, or gettin’ married. Meanwhile, here I am, working a boring ass job and living at home cause I’m too scared to move out.”

“A job that you’re  _ good  _ at. You told me you got ‘exceeds expectations’ on your review!”

“Yeah, just cause they don’t want me to jump ship.”

“And neither do I, but you know I would never want to hold you back, you’re ready to fly outta the nest, darling…”

Madison’s lower lip trembles. Her heart seizes in her chest. She can’t stand to think about making phone calls, talking to complete strangers and asking questions that are out of her field of knowledge, she especially can’t think about how much  _ money  _ it’s all going to cost--her uncles have already done their due diligence in assuring her that she wouldn’t be able to afford the pleasantries that get her through the work week.

More than that, she can’t stand to think about how this house would be without  _ her.  _ Who would take the garbage out? Who would be there to take care of Sam the Third when her father was working late? Who would be there to take care of Nick?

“But we don’t have to talk about that now. How ‘bout you try to eat something?”

“I can’t…” Madison whines.

“Yes, you can. It’ll make you feel better.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever feel better.”

“Maddy, c’mon…” Nick goads, dancing a french fry towards his daughter’s mouth. “What’s that thing your favorite guy always says? ‘Eat, you’ll feel better.’”

“Yeah, and that’s how I became this...blobby slab of meat.”

“Baby, you are not ‘blobby.’ You’re...curvy.”

“You’re just sayin’ that cause you’re my dad.”

“Your mother was like this too, you know.”

Madison’s next clap back is caught in her throat. It was always rare to hear about her mother, especially from her father. 

“She wasn’t quite a heavy weight but man, she’d drink me under the table all the time. Especially at weddings…” Nick smiles as his eyes wander into the past. “Especially ours. And the next morning, she’d be so sick that you’d have thought she was a zombie--but not as brain dead, oh no, she was an absolute  _ devil  _ until she had at least a pot’s worth of coffee and one of them crave cases from White Castle’s. And she’d do the whole song and dance, too, acting like it was her last day on earth, thinking she’d never recover...but she would. She would always get back on her feet, no matter how impossible it seemed, no matter how ugly she felt both inside and out. And you know what I would tell her every time?”

Madison shakes her head, feeling like a toddler listening to a bedtime story. 

“‘I love you.’ Because it’s true. No matter what mistakes you make, I love you, and I will  _ always  _ be here for you, even in your ‘ugliest’ moments.”

The sentiment is nice, but does nothing but further the tug of the strings of self hatred that are splitting Madison’s heart apart.

“I’m so...so  _ terrible.  _ How could anybody eh-ever luh-love m-me?” she hyperventilates, before burying her head in her pillow.

Her next words are muffled, but somehow, he hears them.

He always hears her.

“Madison Grace, you are  _ not a piece of shit,”  _ Nick places his hand on Madison’s cheek, ready to wipe away the tears just teasing the corners of her eyes.

But in his words, the floodgates open and she jumps up, pulling him in as she lunges forward into furious sobs that make Nick’s face crumble, daring to pull open his own dam of tears. 

Instead, he just grips onto his daughter, holding the back of her head as he cradles her into his lap and murmurs soft affirmations, “shh, let it out, it’s okay, I got you, I got you.”

“She’d be proud of you, you know,” Nick gulps as Madison settles. The drugs had kicked in, she felt the numbing exhaustion instead of nauseating dread. 

“Even right now?”

“Even right now.” 

“Even though I was so...selfish…?”

“We’re all a little selfish sometimes, baby bird.”

“A-and wrong?”

“Hey, I’m wrong all the time. It’s how I get to ‘right.’ And you’ll get there, too, in time. This...path you’re going down...it has an end. And we’ll get there. Together.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naomi has her period.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written during my own suffering, first time I think I’ve written them like, together together since…man I don’t even know when. Well, everybody…meet Parker and Madison’s Mom!

Nick opened the back door into the kitchen and was greeted immediately with the chaotic, yet somehow calming energy of the Stokes household. He could hear the sounds of a rambunctious little boy playing in the den, hear Sam barking as he ran up and down the length of the backyard fence to harass the neighbor’s dog, heard the sounds and smelled the smells of food cooking the kitchen. 

And he could also see his wife, slumped in an office chair sitting in front of the microwave, looking absolutely _miserable._

“Hey, hon,” he greeted softly, setting his bag on the table before he slowly approached, sweeping the air out of her feverish face to plant a kiss on her forehead. He crouched down and instinctively reached for her hand as she continued to stare at the microwave that was cooking what Nick presumed, and hoped to be comfort food.

“I was working in my office and didn’t wanna get up,” she mumbled in a pained voice. 

“Is it...?”

“Uh-huh,” she nodded tearfully.

“Aw, Naomi...”

Nick got to his feet and began to roll the chair into the living room.

“What’re you doing?” Naomi hissed, sitting up in the chair, which was a _mistake_ she quickly realized before she doubled over in pain. “My fries aren’t done!” 

“Just taking you somewhere more comfortable, relax, babe. I’ll get your fries in a minute. You coulda said something, you know, I could have picked up the real deal on my way home!” 

“Yeah, guess I should have sent you a warning about...this mess,” she gestured downwards to herself. 

“It’s okay. Had a feelin’ it was comin’ sooner or later. I swear you, Barb and Cassie all got synced up somehow.”

They reached the couch and Nick quickly set out the large wooly blanket they would use for their cuddle sessions for Naomi to sit on. He helped her onto the blanket before wrapping her up as she clutched onto a pillow.

“Comfy?” he asked.

“Mmhmm,” Naomi moaned as she settled against the side of the sofa, curled up in the fabric. 

“I’mma go get your fries now, didja take some Midol?”

“Yeah,” Naomi licked her lips as she stared into Nick’s face. “C-could you get me some water, maybe?”

“Of course.”

Nick returned moments later with a plate of fries and glass of water.

“Need anything else?”

“Just you,” Naomi smiled with shining eyes, as she reached for Nick’s tie and pulled him onto the couch next to her. His face crinkled with a grin as he took his position, pulling Naomi against his chest and stroking her hair.

“I don’t deserve you,” Naomi shut her eyes.

“Yes, you do,” Nick affirmed.

“Maybe...this one won’t be so bad after all,” Naomi dared to say, before instant karma came in the form of a _highly_ energetic four year old running into the room.

“Mommaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Parker exclaimed as he rounded the couch before launching himself onto his parents. “I wanna playyyyyyyy!”

“Parker!” Naomi cried out, before lowering her voice with a forced smile. “Sweetie, Momma’s not feeling so good right now.”

“But I wanna play rockits!” Parker whined.

“Yeah, bud, I think we need to let Mom get some rest. How about you play with Daddy for a bit?”

Nick had already started to get up from the sofa when Parker stomped a foot in defiance.

“No! I want Momma!”

“Nick, it’s okay, I can--” Naomi winced, clutching her waist.

Parker gasped.

“Momma tummy hurt?”

“Yeah, baby, Momma’s tummy hurts.”

“You gots another bebe?” Parker gasped again, his eyes wide, and for a moment, Nick falls for it too, and looked wildly at his wife.

“No,” Naomi laughed. “No, someone named Aunt Flow came and punched Momma in the stomach, that’s all.”

“Naomi,” Nick said in disappointment at her bluntness, but she quickly recovered before the shock even registered on Parker’s face at her harsh words.

“I’ll be okay, don’t worry. You remember what we say when we get sick?” she starts to sing, “When you’re sick...”

“Rest is best!” Parker grabbed the air in celebration as he completed the song, but then lowered his voice as Naomi winced in pain again. “Momma get rest! I gots an idea.” 

In an absolutely adorable fashion, he triumphantly marched out of the room while swinging his arms in front of him, leaving Nick to chuckle, though when he turned to Naomi to bond in appreciation of their creation, she had fallen back into hell. 

“Maybe you should take a sick day tomorrow,” Nick suggested. “It seems like it’s getting you pretty bad this time around.”

“We were gonna use that day to visit Vegas next month.”

“Eh, Vegas is Vegas. We can always drive down on a weekend or something.”

“But Nicky--”

“No ‘buts’, hon. Unless we’re talking about yours. Or mine,” Nick grinned as he playfully turned his backside to his wife, which did the job in cracking a smile out of the woman. 

“I’m gonna go let Sam in real quick, I’ll be right back,” Nick stroked Naomi’s cheek before he turned to leave. “You _sure_ you don’t need anything?”

“I’m sure,” Naomi affirmed. Nick took the chair with him, returning it to Naomi’s office before checking in on his son who was now furiously scribbling on his arts and crafts table in the den. Parker looked up and saw him, put a finger to his lips, and then shooed his father away with a loud whisper of, “It’s a surprise!”

“Okay!” Nick playfully whispered back with a warm smile, and made his way to the kitchen where he rewarded Sam with a treat, and himself one too with a stray fry that he had accidentally left on the counter.

He returned to the living room to find Naomi sitting on the couch, unwrapped from the blanket, with a laptop in her lap.

“Naomi,” Nick sighed. “I’m fairly certain you’ve long since clocked out, and unless that’s you sending an email to your boss...which it’s _not--”_

“I know, I know, I can’t help it,” Naomi groaned as she held the screen of the laptop up, despite Nick’s attempt to close it. “I just... _She’s_ not gonna take a ‘sick day’ either, you know.”

“Yeah, well, _Veronica_ will just have to wait until this cycle is over before she has to worry about getting her nasty ass caught by the best agent out there,” Nick told her, confiscating her laptop despite her unspoken protest of, “No, babe, I’m using it for a heating pad, I swear!”

Naomi moaned in pain as they re-settled on the couch, Nick swaddling her and scooping her into his arms once more.

“Heathers,” Naomi sighed.

“Hmm?” Nick asked into her hair.

“I think she got that name from the movie ‘Heathers’--Veronica Sawyer. Don’t know if it’s her real name.”

“Who knows,” Nick shrugged. 

“Wanna put that on?”

“What?”

“The movie.”

“Oh, sure, yeah, whatever you want,” Nick reached for the remote and threw on the film, wondering what sort of breakthrough she would come to while watching the cult classic. 

Ten minutes in, and Naomi’s eyes had not been on the screen, but rather on the bearded man that held her, completely lost in his eyes and a more pleasant daydream than the nightmare that was flooding out of her body.

“What’s wrong?” Nick asked when he finally noticed her staring.

“You think serial killers get like this on their periods too?” Naomi asked, which got an honest laugh out of Nick. 

“Momma!” Parker made Nick jump out of his skin as he hopped up behind the couch, waving a folded piece of paper in his hands. “Sowwy, Daddy!”

“It’s okay, bud...” Nick breathed. Naomi reached up for the card that Parker was waving in front of her face.

“This for you!” Parker whispered. 

“Aw, baby, thank you!”

Inside was a drawing--or at least, what she _thought_ was a drawing, it was more of just a mess of scribbles.

“The purple is Daddy playin’ wif the rockitshit--”

“Rocket _ship,”_ Nick corrected through a suppressed chuckle.

“And the bwue is me sitting wif you on the couch.”

“I’m the red?” Naomi couldn’t help but giggle at the irony.

“Uh-huh!” 

“Well, _thank you,_ sweetie. I love it, just as much as I love _you,”_ Naomi tapped the tip of Parker’s nose, which made him fall into a fit of giggles. 

“You know...I wouldn’t mind it,” Nick said once Parker went back to his playroom.

“What’s that?” Naomi asked.

“If we had another one.” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Me neither. But let’s wait until next week, before we really try it, ‘kay? Don’t want our bed to look like one your crime scenes.”

“Of course, Naomi,” Nick planted a kiss on her forehead as she snuggled deeper into his chest. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Nick,” Naomi mumbled, before she fell asleep wrapped in the loving arms of Nick Stokes.


End file.
